Montgomery police arrest juvenile in another creepy clown case
A Montgomery youth has been arrested for making clown threats to Montgomery Public Schools this week, Mayor Todd Strange announced Thursday.
The 10-year-old was arrested Wednesday and charged with making terroristic threats. The child is not the same individual sought for making threats from the Facebook account Bingerman Clownferd earlier this week. MPD Chief Ernest Finley said this was a new threat that arose Wednesday, but would not provide further details.
"A threat was made to a couple individuals and fear was placed in that school. We worked with MPS staff as well as the parent of the individual," Finley said.
Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) alerted MPD to the threat and police began the investigation. The child was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats, a Class A felony for an adult.
"Making terroristic threats is no laughing matter. It will ruin your life," Strange said.
The case will go through the juvenile judicial system, but Finely said the main goal is to help the child. Finley said the punishment would have been "really severe" if the culprit was an adult.
"My heart goes out to that child and the family. I do believe in the system. I want that child to get some help," Finley said.
The clown threats in the Montgomery area began last week when a Facebook account named Bingerman Clownferd threatened to visit Montgomery schools and beat students. That account has since been deleted and the person responsible has not been caught.
This is the third clown arrest this week after Troy police and Millbrook police also arrested teens for similar clown threats this week.
If the clown threats in Montgomery continue, Finley said those responsible will also be arrested.
"We take all these complaints and calls and Facebook pages seriously, and we will continue to investigate them until this thing kind of dissipates," Finley said.